Indigo Shibori Table Runner and a Summer Tablescape

The theme this month is summer parties and I’m excited to share a summertime indigo tablescape that’s not only easy to put together, but very cost effective.

I started by taking some drop cloth and dying it in indigo fabric dye.

I had some left over dye and decided to make coordinating napkins, also made of drop cloth. You can of course use real napkins for a softer look, but I like the texture that the drop cloth gives the table.

I placed some greenery and blue berries on the plates to coordinate with the rest of the table.

And along the center of the table, I placed a few blue small bottles from Michaels, filled with some greens from our garden. Some green glassware that I picked up at the thrift store last year and some sparkling water bottles whose labels match nicely with the rest of the decor.

I also placed some blueberries in blue bowls and used some of the blue baskets from the farmer’s market to display them. I think they add such a fun summer touch to the table.

Simple to put together, yet pretty and inviting.

I wanted to tone down the blue and so I removed the deep blue bottles and replaced them with plain jars for a softer look.

1. Cut drop cloth to desired size
2. Soak drop cloth
3. Fold fabric horizontally in an accordion manner and roll together; secure with rubber band(s)
4. Follow package instructions to prepare dye
5. Place folded drop cloth in deep container and apply dye to bottom half of the bundle
* Allow it to rest for up to 8 hours (the longer you let it sit, the deeper the color will be). I let mine sit over night and the color is so beautiful and rich.

To make the napkins, you can use some of the left over dye and simply fold the napkins in half and apply the dye at the bottom of the napkin. Allow it to rest for a couple of hours.

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Comments

That is really pretty! I have just a few questions. Do you soak the drop cloth in water first? Secondly, if you fold the fabric like an accordian, what do you mean by rolling it together? And If you only soak half of it, how is the die on both ends of the runner? Maybe stupid questions, but I am just not picturing it in my head and would love to try this!

Hi Nicki..they’re not stupid questions at all. I do soak the drop cloth first and to help you visualize it better I wrote a post for ehow couple of years ago that shows similar technique here > http://www.ehow.com/ehow-crafts/blog/how-to-shibori-tie-dye-fabric/ But I combined both Fig 1. and 3. for this and I only added dye to the bottom of the bundle. The top of the bundle was left white. Hope that helps a little. I might have to do a photo tutorial later to add to the post 🙂

Thank you Lucy, I clicked over and seeing that visual and reading it helps! I saw you speak at Haven last summer, BTW, and am hoping to catch you there again this year. I think I might try doing something with the shibori over summer, looks so cool!